why//blog

This post is written in response to pketh's post.
I posted on this topic before. That's my very first post titled "why//blog". So basically, this is the 2nd addition kinda thing.
Blog originate from the word "weblog", which is basically a web log of events that occurred. Such a simple idea of web logging evolved a lot. Some blogs are providing how-to helps, some people used it for diary purposes, etc.. Early this year, top search engine, Google Inc., acquired Blogger. [Perhaps those people at Google thought that Blogger rhymes with Google and they got to buy it.] According to the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2003, Microsoft is getting into the bandwagon of blogs by introducing a new software, as part of the upcoming Tablet PC Software Development Kit (SDK) 1.7, called "InkBlogging".

Okay, I completed my long-winded introduction.
I started blogging on June 20, 2003. That's around 4 months ago. No one introduced me to it. I frequent blog sites to read about comments and stuff. I longed to own a web site, it's not easy to maintain a information-based web site. It's very hard to get visitors if your updates aren't regular enough. Your counter will look miserable, that is unless of course you messed with it and set it to a higher value. [My counter is at around 500.]
Blogs, on the other hand, are much easier to maintain. You just keep posting. It's not any easier to get visitors though, but it's much easier to have regulars. Thanks to link exchanges here.
I chose Blogger as my service provider with a rather unusual reason. I thought, since Google owns Blogger, it's got to have a extend quality. And since a big company is supporting it, I won't receive an email saying, "Due to bandwidth constraints, we have no choice but to stop offering free services." I am grateful, so I leave the advertisement as it is. It is not because I do not how to use style sheets to cover it. It's just a simple way of saying, "Thanks for hosting me." [Although, I have to admit, I kinda fail to place the "Powered by Blogger" button which they insist we have to.]
I want to start a commentary-cum-journal kinda blog. I thought that would be more interesting than writing about what happen in my day. I mean I spend so much time in front of that white box that emits light, that there's nothing much to write about.
I do have my writing style now. I want my blogs to look formal, yet the contents are informal. I use complete sentences, minimal abbreviations and no more than one smiley per post. =) [Okay, I've just smiled so I can't do it again.] My subject titles all consists of two words separated by 2 forward slashes, e.g. "exempli//gratia", which is what "e.g." stand for in Latin. I did not write this blog to improve my English, but it seems that it did improve my English to a certain extend.
I am interested in Web Designing. Blogging turns out to be a good way of doing web designing. My web designs go with a certain style too. It has to look simple and pleasant too. If you view back all the web designs and presentations that I did, all of them has a white background! [Unless, of course, I am told to use another color.] Anyway, for the next design for my blog, I am using a darker background, it'll be more aggressive looking. Feng Li says my designs are too mild. pketh calls it sweet. Cuixia says it's girlish. Okay, time for a change of styles.
I found myself enjoying blogging. I am grateful to all regulars. It's a very good tool of expressing yourself. It's not important if you have visitors. I remember the times that I only have 2 visitors per day. Now, I get around 10 per day. [Though most of them stumbled here through accidental Google searches, I'll blog on this soon, it's rather amusing.]

Song Lyrics
I got a lawyer and a manager,
An agent and a chef,
Three nannies, an assistant,
And a driver and a jet,
A trainer and a butler,
And a bodyguard or five,
A gardener and a stylist,
Do you think I'm satisfied?
- Madonna (American Life)

I meet some interesting people through blogging too. You can find their blogs at my Tomodachi("friends" in Japanese") section. I find viewing photo albums very interesting. How shall I put it? It's like a windows to other parts of the world through your computer. I'll make a photo album soon. But as I am using Blog*Spot's free hosting service, I can't host anything except blog contents with them. All my images are hosted by my ISP - SingNet - which, by the way, offers a pathetic 2 MB web space and a ridiculous 30 MB email! I want a 30 MB web space instead!! I'll get Tripod to host my photo album probably..
If you don't have a blog, go try having one. If you hate it, abandon it. Blogger has a very complicated start up process though. Typepad is pretty good as it runs on Movable Type (same people with Typepad). I am very impressed with Movable Type. It's way cooler than the others. I have seen one running on Active Server Pages .NET (ASP.NET) too, very strange.
How do you feel about your own blog? Is it just to practice your writing or something more? For those of you who don't have blogs and I'm sure that's many of you - have you ever thought about it? [Ripped from pketh's posting.]

upcoming//what

I returned to school today for a 2 hour test - UNIX and Windows Operating Systems. I have to say that this test is easier than previous ones. I have to say again - that I lot of what I studied did not come out for the test.
I studied UNIX is detail yesterday late evening and today early morning. I even returned to school both today and yesterday just to practice that frustrating UNIX.

Inspirational Quote
Come to the edge,' he said.
They said, 'We are afraid.'
'Come to the edge,' he said.
They came.
He pushed them...
And they flew.
- Peter McWilliams

As I was struggling on UNIX, I didn't study much of Windows. I wrote a lot of crap on the paper. When I don't know the answer, I always write loads of crap.
This is my first paper out of a total 4. I still have Organic Synthesis and Reaction Mechanism (OSRM) on next Monday, Web Publishing on next Wednesday and Molecular Genetics on next Friday.
I better start studying OSRM, Shawn reportedly started on it. Ben reportedly completed his OSRM! I wasted my week being online all the time. I am addicted to the internet.
I found a job at the local mint, it pays SG$5.00 per hour. Mint - I am referring to the place where the coins and stuff are made. This jobs need 2 people. I seek for Shawn, whom at first agreed, but couldn't work in the December period.
Most of my friends are occupied in the holiday. Some have this industrial training programme going on. Some have long vacations. Pei Shan's visiting India for some community work. I wonder if she'll return moving her head from left to right and back like the Indians. [I can actually do that by the way.]
I found a substitute for the job - David. Okay, substitute doesn't sound nice. [David used to blog, at least for a week or two.] I can't wait to trade anime with him. I have loads to trade now. I better start clearing my disk space now. Have to prepare at least 10 GB.
The job's fairly simple. It's another data entry job! I think I can never leave the computer now. Coming December, the job scope will change. We'll be working at the city area selling coins. It's those coins printed with Chinese zodiac signs etc.. They are very popular among locals, even foreigners too. I am born in the year 1985, my Chinese zodiac sign is Ox. Ox is not cow for your information. More information about the Chinese zodiac signs here.

ayaka//engrish

I just finished watching 84 episodes of Ayaka's Surprise English Lessons. Ayaka is a member of Morning Musume (Morning Girls),

Movie Quote
"Everything that has a beginning has an end. I see the end coming, I see the darkness spreading. I see death... and you are all that stands in his way. If you cannot stop him tonight, then I fear tomorrow will never come. "
- The Oracle (Matrix Revolutions)

or was she from Coconut Musume (Coconut Girls). These girl pop groups are under an "organization" known as Hello! Project, which consist of 50 girls I think.Ayaka is 20 years old now; she's from Hawaii, United States of America. Ayaka is the best English speaking member there (obviously). It's really very funny watching Japanese learning English. I can only say "cho kawaii!" (cho=very; kawaii=cute) I'm totally hooked on this series. Each episode is worth 2 minutes, features around 20 Hello! Project girls.

(Yaguchi) Mari: How do you say "deserted island" in English
* Ayaka turns to ask a colleague for help(Yaguchi) Mari: *grins* That's bad.. Ayaka hasn't been back to Hawaii that she's forgotten how to speak English.

(Kago) Ai: How do you say "Amusement Park" in English.
* Ayaka tries to avoid the question and starts speaking of ferris wheel.(Kago) Ai: What is it? What is it?Ayaka: Oh no, I have forgotten!Conclusion: I want to go to "yuenchi". ["yuenchi" is "Amusement Park" in Japanese"]

Ayaka: You have to answer my question in English.(Kago) Ai: English. Oh, you English, my English for you?

Ayaka: Is there anything you got angry about recently?(Yasuda) Kei: [In Japanese] While I am studying this script, Ayaka came in and said, "Hi!", now I can't study my script.

Ayaka: What is your shoe size?(Yaguchi) Mari: Two Two Ten Five [She's trying to say 22.5 for Japanese shoe sizes.]

Ayaka: How many members are in Morning Musume?(Tsuji) Nozomi: Yes, it is.
..Ayaka: Oh, you have 9 people? 9 people?(Tsuji) Nozomi: There's no ambulance here. ["people" sounds like "pi-po", the sound made by ambulances]

There are some phrases that they speak much too often. One of which is when someone asks them, "How are you?", everyone answers, "I'm fine, thank you. And you?". I like seeing Yaguchi the most, her conversations are really funny. Tsuji is second on my list.
I do not understand Japanese, just like they don't understand English. I only know some really common phrases, so it isn't really counted. I found myself actually enjoying laughing at people's mistakes, lol.
By the way, new tomodachi ("friend" in Japanese) - Tammy - check out her page too. She's from Philippine I believe.

off//point

Okay, my computer just hang (hung?). This is really annoying. So I press Ctrl+Alt+Del and launch the task manager. Then the task manager hang when I press the "End Process" button. Then I press Ctrl+Alt+Del again, it hang again. I did so till there's four hang Task Manager.
Please do not mock me and tell me to switch to Mac or whatever. I have been using Windows for years and I am satisfied with it.
I found the problem, a program called "vsmon.exe" is experiencing memory leaks. It starts using near 100% resources. I did a search on the internet, it's some ZoneAlarm kinda thing. Dammit, I just installed that 2 days ago.
When I see my computer in the hang stage, I am always afraid that I'll have to reinstall Windows again.

The last time it happened, I reinstalled everything. I do not even know what's wrong. Windows can't even reach the log in screen, some necessary component is not found or corrupted.
Perhaps there's a better way to fix this, but I only know how to reinstall. [My friend says I should have done a "Repair" from the Windows XP CD.]
This makes me think of what my UNIX teacher says. She says every time when Windows goes wrong, the users don't know what's wrong. But in UNIX, the users can clearly see what's going on from the command line prompts.
So is UNIX better? For that reason, yes it is. But if you're wondering how does UNIX look like, it's like MS-DOS. I heard you said "Yuck!". Of course, there are some shells available to make it look better, but those graphical shells are never as powerful as the command prompt.
I borrowed a UNIX book today. Those teach-yourself-UNIX-in-24-hours kinda book. Oh, I just noticed that the titles is indeed - "Teach Yourself UNIX in 24 hours". It isn't really a thick book, considering the fact that I brought home thicker ones.
I never dared to read these books in front of my friends. I always hide them under my bed and read them at night. Some computer books makes excellent sleep inducers. Some books that are good for sleeping is Microsoft Access guide books, excellent sleeping companions. They beat counting sheep.
I have to admit this, I borrowed a lot of computer books. That's the only section I borrowed from. I do not like fiction books. I rather read cooking guide books. By the way, the Chinese cooking guide books always feature a 40 year old aunty (lady) holding her cooking pan.
I read travel guides too, but it's obviously not as enjoyable as visiting the place itself. New York Times bestsellers list often include how-to-earn-money-and-more-money type of books. I recall "Rick Dad, Poor Dad" (something like that) topping the charts for weeks in the Borders Bookstore. I think I have "Who moved my cheese?" somewhere in my shelves.
I spend awful amount of time reading magazines too. I read entertainment ones often, that is until my brother stop buying them that I switched to reading blogs, which are equally entertaining. I dislike news magazines (e.g. TIME), the cover page is already boring me.
Computer magazines have always been one of my favorites, but they don't come cheap. These magazines are often months old in the libraries....
[...?]
What the hell, I went out of point for this post.

birthday//me

Okay, today's my birthday. It's going to be over soon anyway. I thought it'll be nice if I change my blog's template. Unfortunately, this one is quite impossible to support themes. So it's gone (for the moment). It features a girl - Yume - from the anime "Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto". I hope I get it right. It has an English title - "Someday's Dreamers".
I try to preserve the layout as much as possible so that my site won't look totally unknown to regulars. I added an actual description (yes, finally)!
I haven't fully complete this new template frankly. I'll still be doing some tweaks. I updated it before I complete as I was hoping to change the theme on my birthday. I am quite busy today.
Here's what I did:

Site updates
To commemorate the king's 18th birthday, the king redesigned "//beconfused" (his associates were busy with watching TV). The new design is called "Yume", that is the girl's name. Yume is also dream in Japanese. Enjoy. =)

I went to meet Benedict and Cuixia at Park Mall. Park Mall always reminds me of Monopoly. We dined at Fish & Co., it's a seafood restaurant. They gave me a three-quarter shirt. I don't have such a shirt at home, so I guess it's a good addition. We chatted (or rather, I listen to them talk about Physics and Mathematics) till 5 o'clock at StarBucks. I have to admit this, but today's my first time in StarBucks. I never been there before. I drank Frapucchino Rumba. It's coffee with chocolate chips, it taste very nice IMHO. But then again, I'm not really a coffee expert, I can't tell the difference. All coffees taste like er.. coffee. I order a Venti; I'm greedy so I order the largest one. I can't finish it and felt bloated after half a cup. I actually forced myself to finish it.
I hurried home for dinner as my mother cooked. My aunt and Jesslyn came over. I received a watch from them, but.. I do not quite like it, hehee. Never mind that, can't be fussy. My aunt bought a cake for me too. It's an ice-cream cake. I did not enjoy it frankly, I just felt too bloated.
Speaking of being bloated, it happened since Wednesday. When I was with Shawn, we kept talking crap and laughed a lot. Laughing makes me bloated? I am not sure, according to Shawn, it does. I am very easily bloated on Thursday too. I did not eat much.
I wonder if it's a digestion problem. An advertisement caught my eye on the TV. Yes, I do watch TV, in contrary to popular belief. They mentioned about enzymes not digesting the food well enough. Perhaps that's what I am experiencing. I still feel so bloated now. At times like this, I go to bed; which is precisely what I'm going to do after typing this post.
Happy birthday to myself. Good bye and have a nice Yume (dream).[Oh, in case you'll wondering what happen to the colorful wordings, I remove it temporarily. I like this design to have the "dull" look. Just playing around with colors. All the colors will be back soon though.]

booted//out

For some weird reason, I actually agree to study with Shawn. James came along too.

Inspirational Quote
"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. "
- Albert Schweitzer

We met at HaborFront's McDonald's at half past ten. I ordered a breakfast meal and ate there.
I heard a lot about this particular McDonald's. People tell me about computers there, how nice it is and blah.. the list goes on. Indeed, there are computers, TWO computers. Nice pictures of food colors but other than that, there nothing much.
Study? It turns out Shawn and I weren't there to study. We ended up talking instead. James is actually studying. I drank a cup of tea. Then another cup of tea. Then another cup of coffee. Free refills, lol. I am actually applying some of the Singaporean culture. Need to make my money worth it. Nah, actually I just like drinking them.
Apparently, drinking coffee wasn't my cup of tea. I immediately felt the urge to go to the toilet. Shawn went to the toilet with me. We loitered, correction, explored HaborFront for some time. Went to check out their arcade too.
As we're returning, Shawn received James' call. Turns out that we got booted out of McDonald's for studying there.James was furious. He was so furious that he left for home.[Opps.]
We followed him to the train station but he has already left. Several reasons why he is angry with us. First of all, we weren't studying, we were talking. We left for the toilet without informing him too. Also, we left for quite some time. Things turned really bad when he's booted out of McDonald's without having us around.
We didn't apologize to him in time too. What's this feeling that I'm having?[Guilt?]

aircon//two

My father is grumbling about the air conditioner again! He claims that our air con is extremely loud and he simply couldn't sleep. He listens things different from we (the rest of the family) do. He gets so upset that he complains to my aunt (his sister). My aunt called the air con guys here to examine it. After paying 200 bucks to fix it, the volume does not decrease a bit.
So, what the hell is wrong with the air con? Or is it just my father's bat-like ears?
I feel that if he keep telling himself it is noisy, it'll be noisy! He just kept listening to the sound to hear if there's any, he'll detect the sound very easily. I told him that before, but he yelled at me.
Then he yells at my aunt on the phone. He yells at the air con repair man on the phone.

Did you know?
"The world's libraries store more than a 100 million original volumes, 24 million of those in the US Library of Congress. Amazon.com alone stores 2,5 million books. Yet, sadly, 2 billion people around the world still cannot read. "

When my mother tries to explain the possibilities of the noisy air con, he yells at her, claiming she knows nothing. Indeed, my mother doesn't know how to fix the air con. But, as if he does, he only know how to grumble!
I sleep at 1 o'clock in the morning most of the time. This upsets my mother a lot by the way. And my father will come in my room some time around 12 and grumble to me. I perfected my skill of ignoring. He can grumble all he wants to me, but nothing goes into my head. After a while, noticing that I can't be bothered for his grumbling, he left my room. Effectiveness level is 100%.
I always set the temperature to 26 Degree Celsius. He comes in and note my temperature. He always suspect me of setting 20 Degree Celsius for the air con and purposely displaying 26 Degree Celsius for the remote. Trust me, I never done that.
I figured out a way to stop his nonsense, at least temporarily. I set the temperature to 24 Degree Celsius every time. Then he'll visit my room and he'll set it to 25 Degree Celsius. Don't ask me why, but this simple trick makes him a very happy man (at least temporarily too).

slacking//test

I mentioned earlier that this is my last week as school; it turns out next week I still have to go to school for a day or two.
My assignments are incomplete. I still left one damn formal report and a web publishing assignment.
I went to school for around 2 hours today, just to take a test on Quantitative Analysis (QA). I have no idea still what it is about. I just do the test blindly, applying different statistical analysis to the sample data. Although I did not know what's going on, it seems that this test is for everyone to score.
Firstly, it is open-book. You can even visit the internet while you do your test.

Did you know?
"In a 1631 edition of the King James Bible, in Exodus 20 verse 14, the word "not" was left out. This changed the 7th commandment to read, "Thou shalt commit adultery."
Most of the copies were recalled immediately and destroyed on the orders of Charles I. But there are 11 copies still remaining. They are known as the "Wicked Bible." (The Bible museum in Branson, Missouri has one on display.) "

I checked my email during the test. I can download extra school notes from our school's internal servers to refer too. What's more? We can even use our past assignments as a template for the test. What's even more? The teacher doesn't seem to care if we're communicating! And, the questions, they are so similar to our assignment that I do not even have to change the hypothesis sentences for 2 out of 4 questions. I don't have to change at all, even the names of the samples are the same!
I made the right choice not studying for this test, lol.
We had a online quiz yesterday, it's for Unix and Windows Operating Systems (UWOS). I scored 80 out of 100 for it. Minyi and Xinni both got 2.5 marks more than me. Xiao Juan tied with me. Bor En was overjoyed, he scored 50 out of 100 without studying. He came out of the room with a hyena-like laughter. [hiak hiak hiak kinda sounds.]
Unlike the QA teacher, the UWOS teacher is very particular about our behavior. She marches around the class, not sparing any students. She demand Zhi Yuan to stop listening to the ear piece during the test too. I don't think it's much a big deal, it's just an online test. The QA guy doesn't even care at all.

quiz//play

For the sake of fun, I tried this little quiz. I have to admit that I don't quite believe in it because anybody can make a quiz like this. Anyway, anyhow, here it is:

Your element is Air. You are and artistic personwith a unique sense of style. You areintelligent, constantly active and most likelylike to sing. Constantly moving the air is aforce of nature. One moment you can be a breezethe next a tornado.

I don't quite get what the author means, can anyone interpret it for me? Nice eagle though.
I saw this at Valerie's blog by the way. Valerie: I can't seem to tag on your board most of the time, the success rate is 20% only. =(

end//semester

I declare this week as the last week at school. Well, unofficially. There's not much lesson next week and so I thought I can laze a bit.[But you've been lazing all this while..]
Half right.
There's an online quiz for Unix and Windows Operating Systems (UWOS) tomorrow. There's also a quantitative analysis (QA) test on Friday. I am not going to study for the QA test, I figured if I fail this test, chances are that I'll still pass the overalls, lol. It's not that I don't want to, I simply have no idea what Dr. Tan is teaching about.
I have 2 undone assignments - Web Publishing and a practical formal report. Actually, the web publishing thing is half done. I finish them up tomorrow.
Tomorrow I'll be going for a job interview at my aunt's company. I want to work in the holidays instead of lazing around on my office chair staring at the computer screen. I seriously need a break from the computer. Which is, precisely, why I am interested in this job - Data Entry. Basically, you enter the data into the computer.
Well, it's better than lazing around in my house right? But the job is hard to get, my aunt's company doesn't want to hire employees that work for a month only.
I'll give you guys more details on my job interview soon.

Meanwhile, I got to study for UWOS.
By the way, it's Heather's birthday on October 16 I think. Happy birthday! Au revoir~ (That's good bye in French, Heather knows French.)
By the way again, what language is "ciao"?
EDIT: The job has been canceled, they do not want to hire short term workers sadly.

hopeful//path

Kindergarten year 1, the teacher asks all the children about their ambition. "Nurse! Policeman! Teacher! Scientist!" the children screams excitingly. I looks at my buddy with a confused look. He shouted, "Scientist!". I echoed, "Scientist!".Primary school year 3, the teacher asks all pupils for their ambitions. She asks, "Who wants to be a doctor?" I turned and looked at my buddy (different one this time). He raised his hand proudly. I raised mine too.Secondary school year 1, the teacher asks all her student about their career paths. My buddy (different one again) wants to be in the engineering sector. I chose the same.
You see, I never had any idea what I want to be in the future. You probably realized I made up those scenarios, and yes, you are right. I went pass my Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE), then took my O levels.
I went into Jurong Junior College (JJC) which I very much dislike. I went in as a trial student and I left after 2 months. I got enrolled in Singapore Polytechnic's BioTechnology course.
Why have I chosen this course?

Witty Quote
"The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot. "
- Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

I have no biology background, never explored my interests in biology too. In secondary school, I always wanted to get into a computer course called "Multimedia Computing". That course deals with computer animations, presentation, web sites, digital photography and stuff like that. [There's a very cute girl from Multimedia Computing too.] Pretty much the things I like.
But I chose BioTechnology, reason being it's hot. That's it. It's hot. Lots of people want to get into this course. David really wants to get into Singapore Polytechnic's BioTechnology course. Unfortunately, with one mark higher than me, he can't get in. [Read: The lower the marks, the better it is. I got 12 marks.] He went into Ngee Ann Polytechnic instead. No doubt I am interested in "technology", but I haven't got much interest in "bio".
I keep telling myself to fall in love with the "bio" part. The Chinese (I am a Chinese too) would say: "Love cannot be insisted on". The Chinese also say: "Love is fated".
But it's very cool to be in BioTech, there's this wow factor. When people know that you're in BioTech, they'll go "wow". It's like having a celebrity as your girl friend, only fused together forcefully.
The first year was very hard for me. I did not get good results. I failed one test in my first year - Applied and Physical Chemistry. [Very few people fail tests in Poly.] My class is filled with smart people. I felt like I am a total idiot when my friend can recite to me the entire process of digestion starting from "Amylase from the saliva breaks down.." to "..and finally waste exits from the anus".
That is when I start to think - if only I were in Multimedia Computing. They teach things like web publishing and Macromedia Flash. I am actually interested in it. Yun wen tells me that she might be doing a course transfer. That is when I start to consider it as well. I tell myself if I get a "D" in my semestral exams, I'm going to suggest a course transfer to my parents. My results came back with 5 "C"s and 1 "B", no "D" at all.
For the second year, I can choose to go into BioTechnology (General), BioTechnology (Informatics), Medical Technology (General) and Medical Technology (Cardiag). I chose BioTechnology (Informatics). It's really like buying myself insurance. I am hoping that by choosing something to do with computer, my interests and results will balance up a bit.
It did, I scored quite quite well for my computer-related modules. Whenever there is a presentation needed, I submit Macromedia Flash presentations. This really pleases the teachers by the way. I treat it like a hobby now. Now I have a module called "Web Publishing", which deals with web designing. Another of my hobby comes in handy too.
My bio-related modules are alright now too. I keep telling myself to love the "bio" part. It's very scary, it's like hypnotizing myself.

Inspirational Quote
"Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder. "
- Socrates

But I guess it really paid off. I start to like modules that are related to genetics. My latest test returns, and I score 30.5 out of 40 for Molecular Genetics. Being an easily-contented person, I am more than happy to get that result. I have got many people to thank for this, mainly to my lecturers, my friends and Peter J. Russell. Peter who? Oh, he's the author of my text book - iGenetics.
So what is my ambition now? Since I am in this course, there isn't much flavors to choose from. I still do not know what I will grow up to be. I thought about it - when you are studying BioTechonology, do you ended up being a biotechnologIST?
I like what I am doing, at least, at the moment. I have been more optimistic about the future now. [I sound like the guy from the insurance advertisement when I use the phrase - "more optimistic about the future".] I also abandoned my thoughts on doing a course transfer. The first half of my second year is going to end, it's been a blast I would say. Or should I say, it's been a bliss.
Perhaps, love can be insisted on after all. =)

Note: This is the longest post I written so far. I edited my sentences furiously to make them shorter. Hope they still make sense. There are around 1000 words in total. I wrote this in response to pketh post. Also, the red-hair girl is Harada Riku from D.N.Angel, an anime. It might be her twin sister too - Harada Risa - but she has brown long hair instead. The image is taken from D.N.Angel image book.

wedding//buffet

Something weird happened to me today. I was in church this fine morning. As usual, I wasn't listening to the sermon.
The speaker is Wesley and I do not like his style of preaching. Well, in short - he shouts.
My mind slowly drifts off, start thinking about something that strangely I can't seem to recall. But I got very irritated when I thought of it. [This is not Wesley's fault.] Then Cui Xia used a pen and drew my arm. I was totally pissed off that time. [This is not Cui Xia's fault too, it's the "thing" I am thinking.] I crumbled the church newsletter with my left hand very angrily until tears start appearing in my eyes. Somebody! Call the mental institution! I wonder what I was thinking about at that time.
Never mind that. It's my cousin's wedding today. She wore a red wedding gown. I am not close to her frankly. The last time I saw her, was years ago. We went for the afternoon buffet catered to has than 20 people. I think she holds a wedding dinner in a hotel too. But.. hmmmp.. how shall I put it? Basically, we're not "told" to attend the wedding dinner. I wonder why..
Never mind that too. I met up with my cousins, namely (actually most are nick-namely) - Canny, Jesslyn, Jocelyn and Ting Ting.
I never spoke much to Ting Ting and Jocelyn, they're quiet as usual. I spoke quite a lot of Canny today.

Crazy Riddles
What driver doesn't have a license?
Ans: A screwdriver

It's funny calling her that name. It's just a nick name. She's two years older than me, graduated with a Diploma of BioTechnology (General) from my poly. She's my senior in a way. She got herself a new digital camera - Canon Digital IXUS 400.
This is absolutely sexy I tell ya. At least, by its looks. Strutted with 3X zoom lens and 4.0 mega pixels capabilities, IXUS 400 makes an excellent choice for even the finest photographers. And it's gorgeous laminated exterior - finally everyone will be looking at the camera when their photos are taken. Brilliantly designed to fit your palm, the user can.. Hey, why am I advertising for Canon? I got carried away. View the details here. The sexy IXUS doesn't come cheap though, it costs SG$899 I think.
I borrowed some DVDs from my cousin's place - Kiki's Delivery, Bridget Jones' Diary and 10 things I hate about you. More things to watch now. I still have lots of animes unwatched.
Added two friends - Heather and Valerie - to my links. They're from China and Singapore respectively. Check their blogs out soon. You can find their links in my friends section by the way.
Also, new theme! It's a red hair girl. I can't remember her name. I'll find out soon. I like the way she looks.

double//parable

I've received an email from my friend, Guan Jie. I meet Guan Jie and Teck Hui every Thursday at the same location in school.

Did you know?
In September 1752, the Julian calendar was replaced with the Gregorian calendar in Great Britain and its American colonies. The Julian was 11 days behind Gregorian, so 14 September got to follow 2 September on the day of the change.

Not on purpose, but I'll just see them on 1st floor's cover way connecting Teaching Block 1 and 2. We discuss about anime (Japanese animation) most of the time. Occasionally, he'll ask me Macromedia Flash stuff.
A typical discussion goes something like that. Guan Jie say, "Now, a lot of new animes coming out leh". "But the titles sound stupid, not downloading new ones now," I replied. He always download new anime, he's a much larger fan compared to me. He took Japanese lesson from school too.
Last semester, he kept calling me "Niwa kun", an anime boy from D.N.Angel. I have no idea why he called me that, now to think of it. I am equally puzzled as you are.
Oh, the email! I kinda forgotten about it. Here it is:

~ Parable Number 1 ~
A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?
The crow answered: "Sure, why not."
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested.
All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it. Management Lesson: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

~ Parable Number 2 ~
A turkey was chatting with a bull.
"I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy".
"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull, "they're packed with nutrients."
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to each the first branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree. Management Lesson: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

you//was

Got back my test results again. I always look forward to getting test results, no matter if it's good or bad. I have to admit that this is a very good semester. My results are better than the past for some reason.

Crazy Riddles
"What do you get when you drop a piano on an army base?"
Ans:
A flat major.

I got my Organic Synthesis and Reaction Mechanisms (OSRM) back. I got 29 out of 40 for Dr. Tan-Lee's section and 59 out of 80 for Dr. Ng's section. It's not really fantastic results, but I'm contented. Perhaps I'm too easily contented.
A couple of my friends fail one of these test. Pei Shan got 40 out of 80 this time, she got herself 76 (somewhere around there) out of 80 for the previous test. I wonder what happen, I guess today wasn't her day.
Two tests next week. Unix and Windows Operating Systems (UWOS) and Quantitative Analysis (statistics module).
I always felt weird when pronouncing UWOS. Try pronouncing it. My friends pronounced it as "you was". Every time before I can say UWOS, my brain will send a countering information reminding me the importance of a subject and verb agreement. My friends say "you was". My brain says "you were". I accidentally blurt out "you were" before, I am supposed to be correct, yet I sounded stupid as I have just used it in an incorrect context.
So should it be "you was" or "you were"? From now on, I'm just going to call it - "Unix".

new//stuff

Alright, site updates again. My tag board service provider has been changed. I now use well.. Tag-Board's service. That's because ZonkBoard starts to charge money. I do not think paying for a tag board service is worth it. I rather just get my own domain and run my own scripts. Anyway, I do not have a credit card so I should just shut up.
The message that is on the upper fold of my page, means the first thing you see, is removed. It is very misleading and people often mistook it for a posting.

Inspirational Quotes
"One change leaves the way open for the introduction of others." -Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

The bar on the left has been added, the themes are back, although just two. All the themes quite difficult to implement back due to the weird image sizes. I'll be adding more in the future. Themes work with all latest browsers (even Firebird, hahaa) except Opera. To change the theme in Opera, go to View->Style.
The top bar is now replaced with a flash animation. Flash 6 player is required to view. If you do not have that, you will just view a stagnant image. Don't you find it looking a little familiar? It does look familiar doesn't it? Guess where I got my inspiration from?
The quotes boxes are back. I have standardized it. No more rounded boxes unfortunately, Internet Explorer is the only one supporting it anyway.
Also, I added a new blog link - pketh. He writes about stuff in Toronto. He has great articles. I also removed one link - Are You Listening? - my good pal, David, hasn't been updating for months. By the way, if you wish for a link exchange, tag me!
Some other changes include the background color of my postings and some styles. Now this web page can be viewed correctly in Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher, Firebird and Netscape 7.0. In Opera, you get a weird extra pixel between my tables. Maybe it's fault, I can't seem to be able to fix that. [Starts hearing Ben screaming, "It's a bug, it's a bug."]
That's all my changes I think. Do tag me to give comments, the tag thingy looks kinda boring, lol. Thanks for reading.

scary//teacher

I have a test today. Again, yes again. One after another, they pounced at me. This time, it's Molecular Genetics. For some weird reason, I actually like this module. It wasn't such a bad module. Dr. Chiam and Dr. Sim taught us this module. Previous semester, we encounter Fernardo (Dr. Yuen). I better not say anything bad about her. She's scary.
She spend most of her time reading bioscience books. Currently she's holding the record of borrowing the most books from our library (no kidding!). No one dares to be late for her class.
She does guppy fish related research in my school. Changing its color and stuff like that. Her idols probably include Barbra McClintock and Rosalind Franklin (pketh should know these wonder women). These aren't singers or actresses by the way, they are scientists, female scientist to be exact.

Inspirational Quotes
"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death, your right to say it." -Voltaire

I can recall the moment she got agitated when telling us a story about how Rosalind Franklin tries hard to survive through the hard male-dominated biotechnology world. Maurice Wilkin is her superior and he constantly look down on her.
One day, this Maurice fellow shows James Watson an X-ray diffraction photograph of a deoxyribose nuclei acid (D.N.A.) molecule. This is essential for James Watson's study on D.N.A. during 1953. In the 1960s, James Watson and Francis Crick got the highest honor a scientist can ever obtain - the Nobel Prize - for the discovery of "B" form double helix D.N.A structure. That Maurice guy won too, for "A" form double helix I think. Rosalind got none. Fernardo is especially upset when Rosalind Franklin did not get a Noble Prize. But if you think in a logical way, Rosalind Franklin is died that time, due to her constant exposure to X-ray! Nobel Prize is never awarded to the dead.
As for Barbra McClintock, I am so sorry, I cannot remember her contribution. I think it's jumping genes (transposons) and some other stuff. She got her Nobel Prize decades later. She died in 1992 I believe.
I should study history instead. In case, you're wondering what happen to my test, well.. it went on fine, 4 out of 8 of my multiple choice questions are wrong though. Tricky tricky.
[UPDATE: Barbra McClintock is spelt wrongly.]

fastfood//mac

In Singapore, there are several major players in the fast food industry. With the most number of fast food restaurants is none other than McDonald's; they have around 130 in Singapore I think. Considering the size of Singapore, which is smaller than Hong Kong, China, 100 is a lot. Second in place is Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Third will be Burger King.
The minor ones are Long John Silvers and Mos Burger (the service's quite slow, from Japan by the way). In recent years, I've seen some which are disappearing. This includes A&W (whatever the hell it stands for, it's a long gone fast food restaurant) and Taco Bell. I do not consider pizza places as fast food, they aren't really fast. There's one called "Subway", I am not sure if it's fast food though.McDonald's an interesting fast food restaurant as it has a lot of localization stuff. In the Singapore's permanent menu, there is Big Mac (beef, used to have chicken for a promotion period), Double-cheese burger (beef), Fillet-o-fish (fish burger), McChicken, McCrispy (it's chicken wing and drumstick, can't blame us, Singaporeans love chicken) and McNuggets (chicken again). I've seen McDonald's selling Nasi Lemak (local malay rice dish), spaghetti etc.. Currently, in the promotional menus are McDippers (it's fish fingers) and Quarter Pounder (McDonald'sGermany has that too).
Recently, there's this huge rebranding exercise in Asia. It's the "I'm loving it" promotional exercise. It has affect China (Hong Kong and Taiwan), Japan, Korea and Singapore. They've made a little jingle too. You can hear the McDonald's jingle at McDonald'sKorea web site here, although it's a localized Korean version I think. Singapore has a similar-sounding English version.

On a side note, you should check out McDonald'sUnited Kingdom web site here (picture included).
It says: We'd like to apologise to all our customers for the irregular shape of our McChicken Premiere. It's entirely our fault that the sandwich is slanted because we insist on using premium breast fillets. Then again, if chicken breasts were a bit flatter we wouldn't have the problem in the first place.

My school, Singapore Polytechnic (SP), has McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut. I eat McDonald's most of the time as it is nearest to my study blocks. An occasional change is need, so sometimes I ate at KFC. Pizzas are a little expensive for me, so none for me. McDonald's meals cost around SG$4.40 in my school (it's cheaper than outside). [SPMcDonald's has no McCrispy.] The very thing that McDonald's earn most of my money is McFlurry. It's ice cream with tiny grains of Oreo, cost SG$1.80. I eat the fillet (fish burger) meal most of the time.
The currency conversion rates are around SG$1.00 = US$0.58. This has got to be my most colourful post. =)

terrible//test

I shook my head. This is the worst test I sat through. Dr. Jin left the lecture theatre not long after me. He then asked me if the test is difficult. Before I can even open my mouth, he said something like "if you study, it'll be easy". I did study, not in much detail unfortunately. I can't fill in many blanks. Anyway, what's done is done. My classmates either went for a game of Magic: The Gathering or return home. Feng Li and Xinni went hiking. Strange. They asked me if I want to go then Feng Li say I don't look like the type who will like hiking. Sad to say, she's right.
I am referring to my Biochemical Techniques test. The very test that I skipped my Quantitative Analysis (that's a math module by the way) lesson on Friday to study with James and Shawn. I want to stress that we did study, although we spend half the time talking about some unrelated stuff. At least I finally understood what is isoelectric point. Can you believe it? Isoelectric is suppose to be one of the core things I have to know in this module. I realize its meaning hours before the test only. Now, that's what I call "last minute", or rather "last hour".Dr. Xu is quite pissed off that day. He commands us to sit alternately so we can't copy. Half the population of around 70 ignored him. [By the way, I have been very obedient and do as told.] Shawn and Pei Shan are next to me, separated with an empty seat. Yong Liang sits in front of me.
Why do I tell you guys this? Well.. I tried to cheat. BUT failed.Yong Liang has super tiny handwriting, it's like seeing some insects scampering on a piece of white paper. I wanted to ask Pei Shan but she seems to be concentrating. So I turned to Shawn. And then I turned back immediately; reason being Dr. Jin is standing right next to him.
Although I fail to cheat, some did succeed. One of which is Zhi Yuan. His extraordinary cheating method is admirable, or rather hilarious. He kept on dropping his pen and bending forward to pick it up while glancing at Wendy and Xinni's work. He repeats his action again and again. If you're asking me who aren't concentrating in the test, I would say they are Dr. Jin and Dr. Xu. Zhi Yuan is concentrating on dropping his pen.
The test ended. Read the first paragraph of the post to continue the story.

upcoming//designs

I think I have just screwed my Organism Synthesis and Reaction Mechanism (OSRM) test. I did not study much for it as I am simply not in the mood. The test turned out to be extremely difficult and I can't seem my get my reaction mechanisms right. Apparently, I got confused between E1 and E2 reaction mechanism. I do not expect good marks for that test.
I got back my Web Publishing practical results. I scored an "A" for that one, but the teacher refuse to reveal our actual marks. With a bunch of people holding As, I have no idea my position whatsoever, although rumor says.. Never mind rumors.
Speaking of Web Publishing, my assignment's dead line is nearing and I have yet to start on anything. I'll be completing it by weekend. Together with a brand new template. The whole layout will change, this includes the font, well.. basically everything.
I downloaded some other browsers into my computer and preview my site with it. My current design looks disgusting, say to say. It seems that the problem is with the <div> tag, different browsers give different interpretation of it somehow. It works fine with Internet Explorer, but look ugly on others.
I cannot really fix much of it, so I'll scrap it for a new design that'll at least look right in the latest browsers. Some Internet Explorer only styles, like scroll bar colors and alpha blendings with still be there. Did you know Internet Explorer has very trashy support for Portable Network Graphics (PNG, pronounced as "ping")?
I feel PNG is the future of web graphic format and Microsoft should at least give better support to it. If only. Wait of Internet Explorer 7? I think it probably comes in 2006, bundled with Windows XP's successor, currently codenamed "Longhorn".
I've got another test tomorrow, it's Biochemical Techniques. I haven't study much once again, so many things to remember. Hope I won't fail that one. I haven't been listening in Dr. Xu and Dr. Jin's class.

time//busy

I can't believe today's October 01, 2003. I do not even remember September ending. In fact, I thought the right date for today is September 24, 2003. I haven't felt that week passing before. I wonder why.
A few possibilities for that one.
First possibility would be that I am abducted by aliens and they knock me unconscious. Then they gave me a couple of jabs.
Second is that I have been dreaming all this while.
The latter provides a more logical explanation. I came to know that today's the first day of October when I realize my brother's not going to school today. He is having Children's Day. It's a day off for kids only, I still have to go to school. At least that proves I am no longer one. By the way, the only thing that I like about Children's Day is the fact that it's a holiday, that was during primary school (something like grade 1 to 6).
Correct me if I'm wrong, today's China's National Day too. I think so. Not to say China is childish or something like that.China always reminds me of harsh rulings. Never mind that though. I'm returning to my study table. I've got an Organic Synthesis and Reaction Mechanisms test tomorrow. It's abbreviated as OSRM by us. My friends pronounce it as "Os-Ram". Osram is a company that make light bulbs. They also made very silly advertisements. One goes something like that: a boy's birthday is followed by a total black out. Then this boy said in Mandarin, "ma mi, yong OSRAM". Literally translated to, "Mommy, use OSRAM". But we just received our examinations time table, OSRM is spelt as "ORSYRM" instead. Ben's totally disappointed about it, lol.

My Examinations Timetable

ModuleUnix and Win OSORSYRMWeb PublishingMolecular Genetics

Date30 Oct 2003 3 Nov 20035 Nov 20037 Nov 2003

Time2pm-4:10pm9am-11:10am6pm-8:10pm9am-11:10am

Above shows my examinations timetable. It's nicely spaced out, for once the coordinators have been thoughtful. =)I won't be updating my major theme (the GetBackers) for October. I'm quite busy with my Web Publishing assignment. I haven't started it at all! I'll show you my assignment after it's done. Currently 5% done.

} aboutI am an 20-year-old guy, currently studying in Singapore
Polytechnic, Biotechnology (Bioinformatics). Currently in second
year. I am interested in web design, and hopes to be interested in
Biotechnology.

} layoutI don't know if you recognize her, but she's Ayumi Hamasaki. I have been
listening to quite a lot of her songs recently, so I thought I made a
layout of her. Haven't got any ideas for the next layout though. All
suggestions welcomed.